Needed 1.5-2 hours to open up in decanter. Still dark purple, but very rich nose. Great dark fruit present in the mid palate with a nice medium finish. Still a good and enjoyable wine.
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The past few months I've been drinking through various 10+ year old biggerCalifornia wines such as this one, made in a style my palate has moved away from (though now as then I still drink a broad range of styles). Most have been pleasantly not bad. This one was the first I opened in the past several months that struck me as grotesquely over-extracted, but in fairness the worst of that blew off after about 45 minutes. At that point the wine remained big and extracted and sweet and rather one-dimensional, but not quite as blowsy as it seemed at first blush. It still rated as DNPIM for the AFWE crowd, but for me it remained passably drinkable, though I preferred to imagine I was merely drinking a warm-vintage Amarone... Food not required and probably not helpful as the flavor profile was largely Mon Cheri cherry cordials backed by cola and some spices, and acids are very muted. Could still be a good choice for your non-wino friends.
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5/29/2018 - Brianvcash wrote: 93 Points
Needed 1.5-2 hours to open up in decanter. Still dark purple, but very rich nose. Great dark fruit present in the mid palate with a nice medium finish. Still a good and enjoyable wine.
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5/23/2018 - MikeATL Likes this wine: 92 Points
Remarkable, with plenty of olive joined by the brambly fruit, showing much younger than 14 years and not a hint of the 15.8% alcohol.
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10/29/2016 - Deepdrop Likes this wine: 92 Points
Nice wine. It was very closed upon opening but with a little air time it began to drink nicely.
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3/29/2016 - ParisWino wrote: 86 Points
The past few months I've been drinking through various 10+ year old biggerCalifornia wines such as this one, made in a style my palate has moved away from (though now as then I still drink a broad range of styles). Most have been pleasantly not bad. This one was the first I opened in the past several months that struck me as grotesquely over-extracted, but in fairness the worst of that blew off after about 45 minutes. At that point the wine remained big and extracted and sweet and rather one-dimensional, but not quite as blowsy as it seemed at first blush. It still rated as DNPIM for the AFWE crowd, but for me it remained passably drinkable, though I preferred to imagine I was merely drinking a warm-vintage Amarone... Food not required and probably not helpful as the flavor profile was largely Mon Cheri cherry cordials backed by cola and some spices, and acids are very muted. Could still be a good choice for your non-wino friends.
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1/7/2016 - Col.Harding wrote: 88 Points
lovely structure with tons of fruit, complex, but too jammy
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